Up The Creek Without A Paddle

And then came Easter!

by Terry Toole

We received some more good news and bad news last week. My daughter, Tammy, returned to her doctor/surgeon to see what he found from the reports that came back concerning her ovarian cancer. He thought he had gotten it all by taking everything out of her that he thought she could do without. The news, however, wasn't as good as she/we had wished, prayed and begged for these past weeks.

I could tell the doctor knew when he released her from the hospital, but he said he would tell her and Kent when she came to get that row of staples taken out of her abdomen. He did. The cancer had spread to a Type III. The good news was that he was going to treat it with a new type of chemotherapy that will give her a fighting chance.

Tammy really likes her doctor and has almost as much confidence in him as she does in her Real Doctor. That girl has the faith of Job.

Speaking of Job, I have gone back in the past few months and read about him again. What my God allowed to happen to that good man makes all the rest of us look truly blessed.

That is one of many books in the Bible that I absolutely do not understand. I think most of my first questions, if I am allowed to ask questions, will come from Job. That good man went through Hell on earth. The end was good, so maybe it's not how we make the trip through life or what we have, but how we end it and do for others that make all the difference.

For the past few months, I have almost done what Paul said we should do, pray without ceasing. I have always wondered how anyone could do anything without ceasing. These past few months have taught me a lot, with Donna, our baby daughter and her heart problems, with Betty Jo almost leaving us with too much medicine trying to save her life from pneumonia, and now, our elder daughter, Tammy, with dreaded cancer.

I have learned how to beg, cry, pray, plead and make all kinds of deals. I feel that somewhere back in my family tree, there was a Jew, for I have tried to make all types of bargains with my Maker, which is impossible. He already has it all.

I think that it was our Christ who asked to be delivered from the cross, and although He suffered and died, He arose to save the rest of us.

In all I read, I find that we were placed here to commune with God, our choice. We all fall short of what we should do, but I've been doing a lot of catching up recently.

We can't possibly understand why bad things happen to good people, especially the young. That is another question I want to ask when I get there.

I have been told that God will never put more on us than we can bear, but I found that is not exactly what He said.

I believe that all that is good comes from God. All that is bad and evil comes from Satan. My biggest question is why God puts up with Satan. The closest answer I have found is that out of all the bad that happens to us in life, God will make something good come from it. It amazes me, His Amazing Grace with all of us.

If nothing comes from something bad happening to us, but the knowledge of how many friends, relatives and just loving people there are in this world that really care, that will be something good.

In the next few weeks, I am asking all our many friends and acquaintances to lift Tammy and her family up to the One who can make her well, if it is within His will. He has been so very merciful with Betty Jo, and we give Him all the praise.

However, our wants, requests and askings turn out, I've read the end of the story. As the man at the garage said, "Everything's going to be all right."

Not one of us is in a hurry to go to Heaven, although we all want to go, later. We just need to be ready if we are called a little early.

Not one of us deserves His mercy or His grace, but just as everyone of us is promised that we will die, then comes Easter, and we are promised that with faith, hope, love and belief in Him, we can have eternal life. Not one of us deserves this. It was His gift to us all.